Managing Life, Career, and Money in a Savvy Way!

Corporate Gig Warning

Just finished a pretty rough week. Well, actually most weeks have been pretty rough lately.

Today being Friday though, my mood did improve. I smiled, I laughed….I did a great job of faking it today!!! Payday is 10 days away!

I wanted to write a quick post to warn people. Corporate america is very cut throat. It’s all about numbers. We just started our new budget season. Sales are down, which means there will be people cuts. I know for a fact there will be cuts because I’m close to the numbers.

It’s a reason why I’m more determined than ever to hit FI. Yes, it might take 15 years, but there’s no way we can be fifty trusting we will still have jobs.

Companies are no longer loyal. Plus, you are expected to do more with less.

There are days where I want to tell my 20 year brother about how horrible it is. But I have to be careful not to strip him of his motivation.

I’m already encouraging him to save money and learn how to manage a budget.

On another note, I have spoken with 3 soon to be dads in the past week. When they mentioned they will soon be going on paternity leave, I asked when they will be back. Our company’s paternity policy is two months if you will provide 50% of the care. If you will provide less, it’s 2 weeks. It’s basically a technicality for when both parents work for the parents. One parent has to declare primary, and the second parent, secondary. In my department, 3 dads have taken the 2 months in the past year. I encouraged all of them to take the 2 months. After all, I’m a proponent of equal parenting.

All 3 dads said they were taking 2 weeks. They are afraid to take more than 2 weeks for fear of losing their job.

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9 comments

savy financial latina, thanks for the post! I couldn’t agree more. I think there’s a growing level of corporate greed, and it angers me that the people that are not on the top of the totem pole usually are made to be disposable, when needed.

For your brother, instead of framing corporate america as “evil”, why don’t you frame it as “hey, did you know that if you saved most of your income and invested it, it’s possible to only have to work full-time for a living for 5-10 years?” I think that may spark curiosity, where the other position will likely demotivate him.

I’m on a similar journey. I’m also queing up some blog posts at the moment. Once I decide to “launch”, I’ll drop a link here in case you want to check it out

It’s sad to hear about the mindset these Dad’s have. My husband doesn’t have any leave in his job, I have six months (only 6 weeks paid) but I plan on taking it all because as you may have noticed the corporate world could give a rat’s behind if you are a loyal, serving slave for years if they need to cut you they will so I encourage just save all you can and look at that FI goal!.

I work in the ‘pharmaceutical industry ‘ & our numbers aren’t even tied to something people in our company did! If it wasn’t a bad season for a disease, and not enough people got sick, they couldn’t prove our medicine was better than not having it, so our stocks plummeted last fall and 1/3 of the company was downsized. One place I worked, if our pursuit of a new product continued, building a new manufacturing plant happened to be equal to a reimbursement the parent company lost. Therefore *poof* we were shutdown.
That is a big reason for my pursuit of FI. I know as I get older, it will be more difficult to get a new job, if they think you are close to retirement. If I am set to retire earlier than traditional age, I will be more able to adapt, or take part time work.
My coworker was trying to figure out if he could get the 2 weeks applied twice, because his wife is expecting twins. I think it’s just the 2 weeks, plus any sick or vacation time he may choose to take.

I work in the ‘pharmaceutical industry ‘ & our numbers aren’t even tied to something people in our company did! If it wasn’t a bad season for a disease, and not enough people got sick, they couldn’t prove our medicine was better than not having it, so our stocks plummeted last fall and 1/3 of the company was downsized. One place I worked, if our pursuit of a new product continued, building a new manufacturing plant happened to be equal to a reimbursement the parent company lost. Therefore *poof* we were shutdown.
That is a big reason for my pursuit of FI. I know as I get older, it will be more difficult to get a new job, if they think you are close to retirement. If I am set to retire earlier than traditional age, I will be more able to adapt, or take part time work.
My coworker was trying to figure out if he could get the 2 weeks applied twice, because his wife is expecting twins. I think it’s just the 2 weeks, plus any sick or vacation time he may choose to take.

I can totally feel you on corporate ruthlessness when it comes to their workers. Being a line level employee for the past 22 years, it’s been brutal. I can only imagine how tough it is at the staff level. It’s funny how a CEO would get bonuses if he/she can save money by cutting employees, so in essence, we are all at risk of a job loss. On the flip side, you should be more positive being you have your youth and education to back you up in case you need to find another job/career. On top of your hefty emergency savings I believe you have by now. Before I bought my new house, I had a substantial savings account that gave me tremendous confidence and pride. Be and feel empowered with yourself, it will go a long ways in your life.